The combination of albuterol and ipratropium is used to prevent wheezing, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, and coughing in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; a group of diseases that affect the lungs and airways) such as chronic bronchitis (swelling of the air passages that lead to the lungs) and emphysema (damage to the air sacs in the lungs). Albuterol and ipratropium combination is used by people whose symptoms have not been controlled by a single inhaled medication. Albuterol and ipratropium are in a class of medications called bronchodilators. Albuterol and ipratropium combination works by relaxing and opening the air passages to the lungs to make breathing easier. More info »

About This Data

ProPublica obtained prescribing data from Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, under the Freedom of Information Act. The data for 2012 includes more than 1.2 billion prescriptions written by nearly 1.5 million doctors, nurses and other providers. This database lists about 382,000 of those providers who wrote 50 or more prescriptions for at least one drug that year. Almost three-fourths went to patients 65 and older; the rest were for disabled patients. Methodology »